Leon Trotsky: The Transitional
programme

Against Opportunism and Unprincipled Revisionism

The politics of Leon Blum's party in France demonstrate anew that reformists
are incapable of learning anything from even the most tragic lessons of history.
French Social Democracy slavishly copies the politics of German Social Democracy
and goes to meet the same end. Within a few decades the Second International
intertwined itself with the bourgeois democratic regime, became, in fact, a part
of it, and is rotting away together with it.

The Third International has taken to the road of reformism at a time when the
crisis of capitalism definitely placed the proletarian revolution on the order
of the day. The Comintern's policy in Spain and China today — the policy of
cringing before the "democratic" and "national"
bourgeoisie—demonstrates that the Comintern is likewise incapable of learning
anything further or of changing. The bureaucracy which became a reactionary
force in the USSR cannot play a revolutionary role on the world arena.

Anarcho-syndicalism in general has passed through the same kind of evolution.
In France the syndicalist bureaucracy of Leon Jouhaux has long since become a
bourgeois agency in the working class. In Spain, anarcho-syndicalism shook off
its ostensible revolutionism and became the fifth wheel in the chariot of
bourgeois democracy.

Intermediate centrist organizations centered about the London Bureau
represent merely "left" appendages of Social Democracy or of the
Comintern. They have displayed a complete inability to make head or tail of the
political situation and draw revolutionary conclusions from it. Their highest
point was the Spanish POUM, which under revolutionary conditions proved
completely incapable of following a revolutionary line.

The tragic defeats suffered by the world proletariat over a long period of
years doomed the official organizations to yet greater conservatism and
simultaneously sent disillusioned petty bourgeois "revolutionists" in
pursuit of "new ways." As always during epochs of reaction and decay,
quacks and charlatans appear on all sides, desirous of revising the whole course
of revolutionary thought. Instead of learning from the past, they
"reject" it. Some discover the inconsistency of Marxism, others
announce the downfall of Bolshevism. There are those who put responsibility upon
revolutionary doctrine for the mistakes and crimes of those who betrayed it;
others who curse the medicine because it does not guarantee an instantaneous and
miraculous cure. The more daring promise to discover a panacea and, in
anticipation, recommend the halting of the class struggle. A good many prophets
of "new morals" are preparing to regenerate the labor movement with
the help of ethical homeopathy. The majority of these apostles have succeeded in
becoming themselves moral invalids before arriving on the field of battle. Thus,
under the aspect of "new ways," old recipes, long since buried in the
archives of pre-Marxian socialism, are offered to the proletariat.

The Fourth International declares uncompromising war on the bureaucracies of
the Second, Third, Amsterdam and Anarcho-syndicalist Internationals, as on their
centrist satellites; on reformism without reforms; democracy in alliance with
the GPU; pacifism without peace; anarchism in the service of the bourgeoisie; on
"revolutionists" who live in deathly fear of revolution. All of these
organizations are not pledges for the future, but decayed survivals of the past.
The epoch of wars and revolutions will raze them to the ground.

The Fourth International does not search after and does not invent panaceas.
It takes its stand completely on Marxism as the only revolutionary doctrine that
enables one to understand reality, unearth the cause behind the defeats and
consciously prepare for victory. The Fourth International continues the
tradition of Bolshevism which first showed the proletariat how to conquer power.
The Fourth International sweeps away the quacks, charlatans and unsolicited
teachers of morals. In a society based upon exploitation, the highest moral is
that of the social revolution. All methods are good which raise the class
consciousness of the workers, their trust in their own forces, their readiness
for self-sacrifice in the struggle. The impermissible methods are those which
implant fear and submissiveness in the oppressed before their oppressors, which
crush the spirit of protest and indignation or substitute for the will of the
masses—the will of the leaders; for conviction—compulsion; for an analysis
of reality—demagogy and frame-up. That is why Social Democracy, prostituting
Marxism, and Stalinism—the antithesis of Bolshevism—are both mortal enemies
of the proletarian revolution and its morals.

To face reality squarely; not to seek the line of least resistance; to call
things by their right names; to speak the truth to the masses, no matter how
bitter it may be; not to fear obstacles; to be true in little things as in big
ones; to base one's program on the logic of the class struggle; to be bold when
the hour for action arrives—these are the rules of the Fourth International.
It has shown that it could swim against the stream. The approaching historical
wave will raise it on its crest. [Back to Contents]

Against Sectarianism

Under the influence of the betrayal by the historical organizations of the
proletariat, certain sectarian moods and groupings of various kinds arise or are
regenerated at the periphery of the Fourth International. At their base lies a
refusal to struggle for partial and transitional demands, i.e., for the
elementary interests and needs of the working masses, as they are today.
Preparing for the revolution means to the sectarians, convincing themselves of
the superiority of socialism. They propose turning their backs on the
"old" trade unions, i.e., to tens of millions of organized
workers—as if the masses could somehow live outside of the conditions of the
actual class struggle!

They remain indifferent to the inner struggle within reformist organizations
— as if one could win the masses without intervening in their daily strife!
They refuse to draw a distinction between the bourgeois democracy and fascism
— as if the masses could help but feel the difference on every hand!

Sectarians are capable of differentiating between but two colors: red and
black. So as not to tempt themselves, they simplify reality. They refuse to draw
a distinction between the fighting camps in Spain for the reason that both camps
have a bourgeois character. For the same reason they consider it necessary to
preserve "neutrality" in the war between Japan and China. They deny
the principled difference between the USSR and the imperialist countries, and
because of the reactionary policies of the Soviet bureaucracy they reject
defense of the new forms of property, created by the October Revolution, against
the onslaughts of imperialism. Incapable of finding access to the masses. they
therefore zealously accuse the masses of inability to raise themselves to
revolutionary ideas.

These sterile politicians generally have no need of a bridge in the form of
transitional demands because they do not intend to cross over to the other
shore. They simply dawdle in one place, satisfying themselves with a repetition
of the selfsame meager abstractions. Political events are for them an occasion
for comment but not for action. Since sectarians as in genera every kind of
blunderer and miracle-man, are toppled by reality at each step, they live in a
state of perpetual exasperation, complaining about the "regime" and
the "methods" and ceaselessly wallowing in small intrigues. In their
own circles they customarily carry on a regime of despotism. The political
prostration of sectarianism serves to complement, shadow-like, the prostration
of opportunism, revealing no revolutionary vistas. In practical politics,
sectarians unite with opportunists, particularly with centrists, every time in
the struggle against Marxism.

Most of the sectarian groups and cliques, nourished on accidental crumbs from
the table of the Fourth International lead an "independent"
organizational existence, with great pretensions but without the least chance
for success. Bolshevik-Leninists, without waste of time, calmly leave these
groups to their own fate. However, sectarian tendencies are to be found also in
our own ranks and display a ruinous influence on the work of the individual
sections. It is impossible to make any further compromise with them even for a
single day. A correct policy regarding trade unions is a basic condition for
adherence to the Fourth International. He who does not seek and does not find
the road to the masses is not a fighter but a dead weight to the party. A
program is formulated not for the editorial board or for the leaders of
discussion clubs, but for the revolutionary action of millions. The cleansing of
the ranks of the Fourth International of sectarianism and incurable sectarians
is a primary condition for revolutionary success.